Nobby Stiles was an enforcer who pioneered the holding midfield role | Paul Wilson

One of the most popular of England’s World Cup-winning team, his years as a regular encapsulate his country’s finest hour

Nobby Stiles was one of the most popular of England’s 1966 World Cup winners, not least because his toothless grin, dishevelled appearance and carefree cavorting around Wembley with the Jules Rimet trophy provided delight at the time and images to last for many decades longer.

Younger generations familiar with the well-groomed athletic young men who populate the Premier League might have difficulty recognising Stiles as a footballer at all, let alone a World Cup winner, and there were plenty of opponents back in the day who might have voiced the same opinion. Even though he played almost 400 games for Manchester United, winning the European Cup in 1968 after the title win in 1967, the feisty midfielder was frequently criticised for an over-physical approach to the game. Despite his diminutive stature – at 5ft 6in Stiles was no taller than his England teammate Alan Ball – he was what would be referred to today as an enforcer, though a few years ago in these pages Jonathan Wilson went further and described him as “a destroyer”.

Related: Nobby Stiles, 1966 World Cup winner with England, dies aged 78

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